Risks and rewards of flocking to the Lib Dems

There may well be good reasons for thinking that Labour was wrong not to change its leader, but that is a bad reason for not voting for Labour on Thursday (Editorial, 1 May).

New Labour has governed badly in a number of ways which are hard to forgive. It has, for example, fallen for the market. Quite as bad as the invasion of Iraq has been accepting the idea of a "war on terror" which justifies assault on some of our most precious liberties. The insistence that the state education system was generally (and, it seems, is repeatedly) in need of "reform" has been a calumny. But this is a time for Labour voters to hold their nerve, hoping to work for a better future from inside. Even if that were to have little effect, we all know in our hearts that the Tory alternative would be far worse. And, while to vote Lib Dem in a close contest would obviously be to vote for Tory victory, Nick Clegg's shameless talk of the total national vote means that tactical support of the Lib Dems in a Tory stronghold would be almost as bad a mistake.

Yet the Liberals have some left-leaning policies. The only possible good solution would therefore be a Labour government with Lib Dem support. Reason and loyalty point the same way.

Patrick Daunt

Little Abington, Cambridgeshire

• Both the Conservatives and Labour are aware that their prospects of success at the polls will be improved by the electorate scuttling back to tactical voting though fear. However, following your leader, I would urge everyone contemplating voting Liberal Democrat on principle to have the courage of their convictions. If they do, no vote for the Lib Dems will be a wasted vote. In marginal constituencies, they will return more Lib Dem MPs, thus increasing the likelihood of a hung parliament: the knock-on effect, in even the safest Tory and Labour seats, is that by contributing to a significantly increased minority, they can then help bolster arguments for proportional representation.

Isabel Carrick

Hull

• The letter above was amended on 4 May. An editing error in the second sentence had replaced the word "to" with "and". This has been corrected.

• I am glad to see your endorsement for the Liberal Democrats. However, I do you find your call to tactically vote Labour to keep out the Tories of some seats as flawed. This country needs to change the electoral system to proportional representation. This is only likely to occur if the Lib Dems win power in their own right. While this is unlikely happen in this election, it is most likely to occur in subsequent elections if they beat Labour in votes and seats, and are seen as the alternative government.

For this to happen we want Labour to lose as many seats and votes as possible and for these to go to the Liberal Democrats (and Greens in a few seats). What you are suggesting is to prop up an outdated authoritarian dinosaur which has no intention of supporting electoral reform if it can possibly help it. Better five years of Tory rule followed by a Lib Dem government than a return of the party that has been responsible for so many catastrophes in the last 13 years.

Richard Rudkin

Lewes, Sussex

• 1 May 2010 was the day the Guardian ceased to be "my" newspaper; the paper that was part of life in my childhood home and throughout my adult life (I am now 60); the paper that more clearly than any other was a voice for social democracy. Your editorial threw its lot in with a party whose 19th-century roots (despite Nick Clegg's risible claims that it is a newer party than the others) had lain in representing the interests of the business class; a party whose erratic traditions since then have led it certainly to flirt with social democracy, but never from firm foundations. The disappointment that undoubtedly awaits me on the morning of 7 May is less than the sadness this has caused me today.

Dr Hartley Dean

St Albans, Hertfordshire

• This morning, with a heavy heart, I will make my way under the cover of darkness to my newsagent and with a red peg clasped firmly on to my nose. I will hand over my £1 so that Mr Patel, in a pre-arranged tactical move, can slide a copy of the Guardian from under the counter into my John Lewis carrier bag while I pretend to look at the selection of marmalades. Will I have to do this for three more days until normality can be resumed once Labour are returned, albeit grudgingly, as the new government on Friday morning?

Chris Trude

London

• You say in your editorial there are reservations about the Liberal Democrats. You're right there are, most notably in your own words that "they remain in some respects a party of the middle and lower middle classes". Yes, Labour's record on poverty remains unmatched; yes, Labour's link to the poor remains umbilical. And yes, I will continue to vote Labour. I can do no less. The liberal moment has not come for me.

Margaret Sinclair

Sutton, Surrey

• Today I learned that the Guardian has switched support from Labour to the Liberal Democrats. Today I bought a copy of the Guardian for the first time in many years. I trust you realise that these two events are not a coincidence.

John Field

London

• Excellent editorial, but when push comes to shove I shall still vote Labour, but not for Gordon Brown. Peter Mandelson has a lot to answer for in propping up this deeply flawed man, who was well known to be an electoral liability.

June Purvis

Portsmouth

• Well done, Guardian. My paper has not let us or the country down. I'm ever more proud to be a long-term reader.